


Predictions

by atamascolily



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Divination, Female Friendship, Gen, Sabacc (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:22:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28230849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atamascolily/pseuds/atamascolily
Summary: Callista asks Tionne for a sabacc reading, but the cards only reveal what she already knows.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 8





	Predictions

**Author's Note:**

> Card images and interpretations are loosely based on the classic Waite-Smith tarot deck, as well as the Wookieepedia entry for sabacc. 
> 
> Soundtrack for this fic: "Predictions" by Suzanne Vega.

"Hello?" Callista called, ducking her head to avoid the full-length curtains Tionne had strung up around the doorway to her quarters in the Great Temple. The air was thick and heavy with incense and Tionne's ballichord case was leaning against the wall, nearly blocking her path. Tionne herself knelt on a padded cushion before a low table at the center of the room, staring intently at what looked like sabacc cards spread out across the surface.

She straightened at Callista's approach, smoothing her long silver hair back over her shoulder. Her striking appearance--delicate features and mother-of-pearl eyes--was heightened by the shimmering gowns she favored beneath the more practical Jedi robes."Oh, hi, Callista, I didn't realize it was so late. Is it time for dinner already?"

"Not quite," Callista said. On closer inspection, what she'd taken for ordinary playing cards were far more richly decorated, unlike any sabacc deck she'd ever seen. The suits--coins, flasks, sabers, and staves--were familiar from the basic casino version, but each card was a miniature painting with its own unique illustration. "I just thought I'd come by and see what you were up to. Didn't know you liked solitaire."

Tionne laughed, a tinkling musical sound that reminded Callista of a thousand chiming bells. "It may be solitary, but not solitaire. I'm just playing around with the cards to see what stories they have to tell."

"Oh." Callista had seen fortune-tellers armed with packs of cards lined in alleyways and tucked away in bars on a hundred different worlds -- but never in the hands of a Jedi. "Does it--work?"

_Why would you do that when you can actually see the future?_ she was careful not to say out loud.

"Well, I'm not very good at precogition with the Force," Tionne said quickly, as if she feared hurting Callista's feelings if she lingered too long on the subject. "Master Skywalker says the future is constantly shifting, so I never know if anything I see is really true or not."

Tionne knew Callista's frustrations better than anybody, having scoured the ancient ballads and surviving historical records for any hints or explanations that might help her recover her abilities. Her caution now was kindly meant, even if it made Callista feel more like a freak than ever.

Callista shrugged, trying to pretend that it didn't bother her. "So what makes the cards different?"

"They're more for telling you about yourself and your present situation than about the future," Tionne said. "We use the patterns and symbols that arise to tell stories -- that way we can learn things about ourselves that transcend the usual modes of logic and reason."

It made a weird kind of sense the more Callista thought about it. Luke had used a similar trick once when he asked a droid to generate random coordinates on a whim--coordinates that had lead straight to Callista herself. A healthy dose of luck--guided on some level by the Force--had brought him careening into her life, and directly to the present moment.

Maybe a little randomness could help her now as she struggled to recover her lost abilities. She'd tried everything else. And at the very least, she didn't see how it could hurt.

"Can you show me?" Callista asked, settling in across the table from Tionne.

"Sure!" Tionne gathered up the cards and began to shuffle with practiced skill of a professional gambler. "I used to do this as a way to make ends meet between performances before I came here," she added at her companion's curious stare.

"A standard sabacc deck is seventy-six cards--sixty numbered cards divided into four suits, with two copies of eight special cards called trumps. Decks that are for divination have the same number of cards, but sixteen different trumps," Tionne explained. "Concentrate on the question you're seeking to answer and let me know when you're ready to pick out the cards."

There was only one question in Callista's mind these days. She closed her eyes, holding the words lightly inside her mind as Tionne shuffled. The jump from the _Eye of Palpatine_ 's computer to a new body might have stripped her ability to touch the Force, but she had not lost the knack of deep concentration, the channeling of awareness to a single point.

_Why can't I touch the Force? What has happened to me_?

"All right," she said out loud. "I'm ready."

Tionne slid the deck face down out across the table, fanning out the cards in a practiced sweep. Callista picked out three cards out of the deck, drawing in a sharp breath at the configuration that emerged.

The Nine of Sabers: a human woman sitting up in bed, her face buried in her hands as if waking from a nightmare, while nine blue-bladed lightsabers hovered overhead.

The Master of Sabers: a cloaked and hooded figure seated on a throne, his own crackling blade held aloft in triumph.

The Destroyed Starship: a damaged cruiser spinning out of control, seconds away from slamming into a nearby planetoid.

"Is this.. bad?" Callista asked, indicating the final card.

"Well..." Tionne hedged, clearly rummaging her brain for a diplomatic response. "It's certainly _interesting_ ," she managed after a moment.

"So what do I do with this?" Callista said. Now that she was confronted with the cards, she had no idea what the next step was.

"Well... any stories come to mind?"

Callista frowned. "She looks frightened," she said, pointing to the woman in the Nine of Sabers. She turned to the Master of Sabers. "And _he_ looks... valiant, but stubborn. A good man, but unshakeable in his beliefs. She's turned to him, but he's not listening. And this"--gesturing towards the final card--"is an ending. Or maybe a beginning. Either way, an explosion is imminent."

A woman plagued by regrets and fears she couldn't bring herself to say that aloud. A man who meant well but couldn't compromise. A disaster in the making.

Well, that was ominous.

_It's pure randomness_ , Callista reminded herself sternly. _The only meaning is what I give to it. I'm projecting my own life onto the cards._

Then again, wasn't that the whole point of this endeavor? Was it the cards' fault if she didn't like the answers they offered?

"Can I ask another question?" she said, suddenly aware she'd said too much and was now eager to move on.

"Sure," Tionne said, hastily sweeping up the cards and shuffling them back into the deck.

This time, Callista decided on a different tack. She'd asked about her problems before; this time, she'd keep it simple and focus on solutions: _How can I restore what I've lost?_

She let Tionne shuffle for a long time as she contemplated the question. When she finally drew, the first card was the Eight of Coins: a droid at a factory forge, pulling flaming metal coins out of an assembly line.

_Hard work pays off--literally,_ Callista thought.

The next card showed the spiraling curve of the galaxy in all its glory, although the caption was much less modest: "The Universe".

"Oh!" Tionne interjected, unable to contain her delight. "That's the best card in the whole deck! It represents the opportunity to do everything you want to do, with everything falling perfectly into place. Whatever it is you asked for, it's all there!"

The last card was the Two of Staves: a silhouetted figure passing through an archway towards the distant horizon.

Callista had seen enough. "Thank you," she said, rising to her feet.

"Oh! You're welcome!" Tionne said. There was a delicate pause. "Did it help?"

"I don't know," Callista said honestly, patting her friend's shoulder as she came around the table. "It's certainly given me a lot to think about. Come on, we'd better go to dinner."

Callista did her best to stay lighthearted and upbeat as Tionne gathered the cards and set them aside in a little velvet envelope. It was just a silly game, she told herself, a diversion to pass the time. It didn't actually mean anything--and if it had, it was a complete and total coincidence.

She knew better. Tionne was right: the cards spoke what she already knew, deep down inside, no matter how much Callista tried to ignore them. The answers had been within her all along; she just hadn't wanted to acknowledge them.

She was going to have to leave this place, leave Luke, walk away from it all, if she was to have any hope of finding her place in the world. The cards had shown her the way and it was up to her if she had the courage to take it.

There was no turning back now.


End file.
